[Bosse'sBoss]

How can you get additional 100HP from the LT1 without affecting its reliability?

[SJFGTO]

Supercharger. Will need a tune and preferably LTs / high flow cats to maximize the efficiency of the supercharger.

[GreyGhost702]

I don't think there is such a thing. As soon as you start turning more RPM, and calibrating the tune, you're even more at the mercy of chance. I started on my path with this thought in mind, as well. Unfortunately, in my effort to pinch pennies and make power, I ended up with a D1X head unit, and then fell into the pit of building an engine to support it. There's a lot of things I would do differently if I could do it over, as I'm really not the power hungry type, but I think the P1SC or P1X on the stock LT1 is the sweet spot.

A lot of reliability concerns will come to how you drive the car as well. Track cars will need more service than weekend street toys or daily drivers.

If you turn wrenches yourself, I think a cam upgrade is the most cost effective 100hp upgrade. Unless you can snag a used FI setup for a good price. I talked about it in another post, but I think it was around $6k or so FBO semi-budget build NA upgrade. You can't hardly touch a used FI kit for that AND get it tuned. I think a used FI budget with tuning is going to range around $7k. But if you want a one and done, P1SC (or P1X, if you want more in the future). Bolt it on, tune it, done. Not sure how complex a PD blower upgrade would be, I tend to not think of PD blowers as reliable when forged pistons and rods aren't involved. They make a lot of boost at low rpm, which is stress on the whole bottom end. At our compression ratio, and lack of pump octane, there's not a lot of margin for detonation handicap. If you can swing a LT4 fuel system, you could run about as much E-85 as you want on the P1SC with that. And a PD would greatly benefit from E, as well. Not sure the LT1 fuel system will support boost AND Ethanol.

But the bottom line, you will always affect the engines reliability any time you add power, whether you are turning more RPM, spraying power, or boosting. You could get unlucky with a ring land failure with spray/boost. You could (likely will) lose valvetrain reliability with a cam upgrade.

Do it because it's fun. Nothing lasts forever.

[s346k]

100 crank hp?

all bolt ons will get you close and be the least intrusive on drivability and reliability. i put over 25k miles on that car in that condition. it never missed a beat. the car straight line performed as good/better than a stock m6 ZL1.

parts are stupid expensive now though. any path to 100+ hp is going to cost several thousand dollars.

[Ericdared]

Alright, so I will give you my secret. Cai and a k&n sticker and boom, you are there.

[Bosse'sBoss]

Originally Posted by Ericdared

Alright, so I will give you my secret. Cai and a k&n sticker and boom, you are there.

[GreyGhost702]

Originally Posted by Bosse'sBoss

[PeteSS2018]

The critical question for the OP is .... what's the budget? You can have cheap, reliable or powerful. But you cannot have all 3.

[arpad_m]

Originally Posted by PeteSS2018

The critical question for the OP is .... what's the budget? You can have cheap, reliable or powerful. But you cannot have all 3.

Yup. I chose reliable and powerful and didn't regret it.

[Bosse'sBoss]

Originally Posted by PeteSS2018

The critical question for the OP is .... what's the budget? You can have cheap, reliable or powerful. But you cannot have all 3.

Powerful and still reliable

[m6-lt1]

FBO e85 will get you close but not quite there. Any cammed car/boosted car will get you 100+ horsepower but it will imo affect reliability even if you spend all the money to do it “reliably”. I don’t care what anyone says but aftermarket car engine builders are NOT spending millions of dollars on engine development like GM did to make a stock LT1. There will always be kinks with a modded car that you have to work out. Outside of that I have seen my fair share of issues with modded/built motor cars on this forum that it has my eyebrows raised enough to avoid modding my LT1.

What I might do if/when that time comes when I need more power is buy a crate engine. I really wish GM still made the LT 535. Not sure why they canceled it so quick.

[Bosse'sBoss]

My idea would be to reach that additional power (100 HP) without the additional weight in front of a S.C. in order to keep the same balanced stock handling

[arpad_m]

Originally Posted by m6-lt1

FBO e85 will get you close but not quite there. Any cammed car/boosted car will get you 100+ horsepower but it will imo affect reliability even if you spend all the money to do it “reliably”. I don’t care what anyone says but aftermarket car engine builders are NOT spending millions of dollars on engine development like GM did to make a stock LT1. There will always be kinks with a modded car that you have to work out. Outside of that I have seen my fair share of issues with modded/built motor cars on this forum that it has my eyebrows raised enough to avoid modding my LT1.

What I might do if/when that time comes when I need more power is buy a crate engine. I really wish GM still made the LT 535. Not sure why they canceled it so quick.

Let's not forget that we typically don't expect 250,000 miles out of our modded engines, though.

[Germansheperd1]

Originally Posted by m6-lt1

FBO e85 will get you close but not quite there. Any cammed car/boosted car will get you 100+ horsepower but it will imo affect reliability even if you spend all the money to do it “reliably”. I don’t care what anyone says but aftermarket car engine builders are NOT spending millions of dollars on engine development like GM did to make a stock LT1. There will always be kinks with a modded car that you have to work out. Outside of that I have seen my fair share of issues with modded/built motor cars on this forum that it has my eyebrows raised enough to avoid modding my LT1.

What I might do if/when that time comes when I need more power is buy a crate engine. I really wish GM still made the LT 535. Not sure why they canceled it so quick.

Why unless your engine is wore out?
The crate LT 535 is your exact engine with ported heads and a cam.